Bread & Butter Pudding with a twist

When it's cold, wet and windy outside, it's good to save room for a spoonful of a good, old-fashioned dessert - in this case, bread & butter pudding. I made this one with some left-over brioche buns, but it can be done with absolutely any kind of stale bread, croissants or even Panetone.

We have a couple of young Austrian EFL students staying at our Airbnb at the moment and unusually, dinner is on the menu for these guys, so I'm experimenting with various desserts - something we usually keep for very occasional treats!

Ingredients

Serves 6

• 25g/1oz butter, plus extra for greasing

• 6 Brioche buns

• 50g raisins

• 2 tsp cinnamon powder

• 500ml/12fl oz whole milk

• 50ml/2fl oz double cream

• 3 free-range eggs

• 1 tbsp vanilla essence

• 50g/2oz granulated sugar

• nutmeg, grated, to taste

Method

1. Grease a 1 litre/2 pint pie dish with butter.

2. Toast the buns and split in half.

3. Arrange a layer of bread, in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle with the raisins and cinnamon, then set aside.

4. Crack the eggs into a bowl, add three quarters of the sugar, vanilla and lightly whisk until pale.

5. Add the milk and cream mixture and stir well.

6. Pour the custard over the prepared bread layers and sprinkle with nutmeg and the remaining sugar and leave to stand for 30 minutes.

7. Preheat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.

8. Place the dish into the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the custard has set and the top is golden-brown.